Container



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J g-WM WW Patented Apr. 17, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE CONTAINER James It. Watkins, Niles Center, Ill. Application September 12, 1932, Serial No. 632,748

11 Claims. (Cl. 217- 12) This invention pertains to containers in general and particularly to those which may be collapsed for shipment and the frame members of which are connected together by fiber board or the like.

In. general the objectof this invention is to provide improvements in collapsible crates, andparticularly such improvements as involve the use of fiber board on some other similar inexpensive sheet material for securing and hinging together the rigid members (if a crate.

The advantages of the invention and the manher of using it are well illustrated by the follow- Fig. 1 is a perspective ,of one form of crate made. in accordance with this invention;

Fig. 2 is a central horizontal cross section .of the same crate;

Fig. 3 is a view of a detachable crate;

4 is a horizontal sectional view of a corner of a crate;

Fig. 5 is a perspective of a modified form of the invention; Fig. 6 is a partial perspective of the modification shown in Fig. 5; and

Fig. '7 is a partial section of a modified comer of the crate.

Referring now to Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive, a single sheet offiber board generally referred to as 1 is ,provid'edwith score lines positioned so that the fiberboard maybe bent to form the rectangular structure shown in Fig. 2. Prior to bending, however, a plurality of wooden strips 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 4o '7, 8, 9','and' 10 are'tacked, glued, or otherwise bottom of the firmly secured to one surface of the fiber board so that when the latter is folded these strips will all be on the outside. The fiber board will then be folded and the two end marginsll and 12 will preferably be overlapped and be glued or otherwise secured together and tacked to a vertical wooden strip 13, or they may be both glued and tacked. On two opposite sides of the structure horizontal strips or cleats 14, 15, 16, and 1'7, are

provided which unite the vertical stripswhich they adjoin. A cover and 5a bottom for the structure is then formed, being alike and preferably constructed as indicated in Fig. 3 wherein apiece of fiber board 1'7 is secured in any suitable manner, as by tacks, to the three cleats 18, 19, and 20.

Fig. 2 shows that the four vertical sides of the crate when constructed as shown are capable of I being collapsed flatly, and as the cleats are on the outside surface they do not interfere with collapsing.

When the crate has been arranged in its normal rectangular shape the top and bottom closure members may readily be inserted between the protruding ends of the vertical cleats '7, 8, 9, 2, 3, and 4. Nails may then be driven through the 05 ends of each of the last six mentioned vertical cleats and through the ends of the six horizontal cleats which are provided on the top and bottom portions of the crate. When the structure is so assembled and nailed the crate members are all '70 interlocked and are capable of standing together without further support, even if the fiber board wer'e then cut away. However, with the fiber board secured to each of them at closelyspaced points, with as many tacks as one may desire to use, or glued to them, the fiber .board and the wood cleats reinforce one another and form a structure which affords a surprising resistance to compression, distortion, and damaging thrusts of many kinds. This surprising strength, however, is attained with the use of inexpensive material, especially light in weight, and so arranged that four'of the walls may be collapsed together into a compact package while the other two walls may be readily disposed in the same fiat package. Thusthe cost of shipping these crates from the crate manufacturer to the user will bevery little indeed, while the work 'of assembling the crates to enclose the users merchandise will require little time, no skill and a negligible expense.

The modified form shown in Figs. 5 and 6 contains even further advantages. The four vertical sides of this container are provided-with scoring at positions which will form the wall corners and the margins are overlapped and secured together as in Fig. 1. Each of the four verticalwalls is provided with a pair of integral flaps connected at score lines, one at the top and one at the bottom. The flaps 21 and 22 will be folded in-. wardly first as are the correspondingfl'aps at the bottom of the crate. The flap 23, however, is provided with a cleat 24 and the fiap 25 is provided with a similar cleat 26. These latter flaps are the last to be folded in. i

The arrangementof the woodcleats on the vertical walls of -the modified form of container differ from those shown in Fig. 1. One wall has 7 horizontal cleats 2'7 and 28 the lower margin of the bottom cleat coinciding with the score line of the bottom fiap, while the top surface of the upper cleat coincides with the score line on the fiap 22. The ends of both of these cleats protrude beyond the corner of the crate far enough so that they may be nailed to similar horizontal cleats on the next adjacent side walls. In between the horizontal cleats 27 and 28 are vertical cleats 29 and 31. The four cleats on this panel of the wall may be secured at frequent intervals to the fiber board and to each other by suitable nails.

An assembly of cleats similar to that just described is placed on the opposite wall of the container while at the two remaining opposite side walls the cleats are arranged as follows.

1 Horizontal cleats 32 and 33 are secured'to the I fiber board far enough below the top and bottom edges of the wall and extend beyond the vertical corners so that when the container is being collapsed they just slide under the cleats 27 and 28 but do not protrude far enough so that their ends will interfere with the vertical cleats such as cleat 29. These horizontal cleats are also connected to each other by vertical cleats 34 and 35. The arrangement of cleats on the wall opposite the last described 'wall is obviously the same although it is not fully shown in the drawings.

It is clear that the modified form shown in Figs.

5 and 6 may readily be collapsed when the top and bottom fiaps are folded open as shown in Fig. 6. The horizontal cleats near the top and bottom edges of the side walls merely slide past one another during the collapsing operation but when the crate is opened up these ends may readily be nailed together while the cleats carried by the top and bottom fiaps may be nailed against the horizontal cleats which are attached to two of the side walls.

r Allof the cleats may be secured to the fiber board while it is entirely fiat, before the two margins corresponding to the margins 11 and 12 of r Fig. 2 are secured together on the vertical cleat 31. It is clear that the attaching of all of these cleats to a fiat piece of scored fiber board may be done rapidly and inexpensively. The joining of the fiber board after folding by tacking its margins to the cleat 31 is also a simple step. Thereafter the entire structure can be re-collapsed with the flaps extended as indicated in Fig. 6 and the structure shipped compactly but ready for instant extension and assembly.

To form this structure into a rigid interlocked crate'structure nails need be driven only through the protruding ends of the eight horizontal cleats such as cleats 27, 28, 32, and 33, and through the cleats carried by the top and bottom flaps.

When this latter structure is assembled and nailed together it forms a rigid crate whose wooden cleat members are all interlocked and capable of remaining so even though the fiber board were all cut away. But the fiber board and cleats reinforce each other when made in accordance with this invention to afford a container of remarkable strength. The fiber board further more .serves as the means by which all four vertical walls are hinged to each other to permit of collapsibility and by means of which the eight flaps are hingedly secured to the vertical walls. I Fig. 7 shows another manner of overlapping the end margins of the fiber board forming the mutually hinged side walls. The margin 12 is placed on the inside of the container so that its edge is practically in the corner of the box. Thus the interior surface of the container is smooth and free of seams.

For convenience and simplicity the appended claims refer to all the vertical walls of the illustrated containers as side walls", while the tops and. bottoms of the same containers are termed "end walls.

It should be understood that this invention is capable of employing materials other than those mentioned and may be embodied in structures which may differ from those preferred forms herein shown, but which will nevertheless retain the principles and advantages of the invention as defined in the claims which follow.

I claim:

1. A crate assembly comprising, in combination, three preformed and complete component parts comprising two rigid end closure members having rigid marginal portions suitable for receiving nails or the like, and a collapsible tubular member of stiff fibrous sheet material forming side walls foldable at their junctures for collapsing, the last said member having sustaining cleats on its walls, positioned to avoid interference with said collapsing, extending from end to end of the members united thereto for reinforcement thereof and positioned to be secured by nails or the like to said marginal portions, said cleats having suflicient'strength and rigidity to constitute a major sustaining means between the two end closure members.

2. A crate assembly comprising, in combination, three preformed and complete component parts comprising two rigid end closure members h'aving rigid marginal portions suitable for receiving nails or the like, and a collapsible tubular member of stiff fibrous sheet material forming side walls foldable at their junctures for collapsing. the last said member having sustaining cleats on its outside walls extending from end to end united thereto for reinforcement thereof and positioned to be secured by nails or the like to said marginal portions, said cleats having sufficient strength and rigidity to constitute a major sustaining means between the two end closure members.

3. A crate assembly comprising, in combination. three preformed and complete component parts comprising two rigid end closure members having rigid marginal portions suitable for receiving nails or the like, and a collapsible tubular member of stiff fibrous sheet material forming side walls foldable at their junctures for collapsing, the

last said member having projecting cleats on its walls, positioned to avoid interference with said collapsing, extending from end to end united thereto for reinforcement thereof and positioned to be secured by nails or the like to said marginal portions, said cleats having sufficient strength and rigidity to constitute a major sustaining means between the two end closure members.

4. A crate assembly comprising, in combination, three preformed and completecomponent parts comprising two rigid end closure members having rigid marginal portions suitable for receiving nails or the like, and a collapsible tubular member of stiff fibrous sheet material forming side walls foldable at their junctures for collapsing, the last said member having projecting cleats on its outside walls extending from end to end united thereto for reinforcement thereof and positioned to be secured by nails or the like to said marginal portions, said cleats having sufficient strength and rigidity to constitute a major sustaining means between the two end closure members.

5. A crate assembly comprising, in combination, three preformed and complete component parts comprising two rigid end closure members hav ing rigid marginal portions suitable for receiving nails or the like, and a collapsible tubular member formed from a single sheet of stiff fibrous material forming side walls scored for folding at their junctures for collapsing, the last said member having sustaining cleats on its walls, positioned to avoid interference with said collapsing, extending from end to end of'the member united thereto for reinforcement thereof and positioned to be secured by nails or the like to said marginal portions, said cleats having surficient strength and rigidity to constitute a major sustaining means between the two end closure members.

6.1%. crate assembly comprising, in combination, three preformed and complete component parts comprising two rigid marginal portions suitable for receiving nails or the like, and a collapsible tubular member of stiff fibrous sheet material forming side walls foldable at their junctures for collapsing, the last said member having rigid sustaining cleats secured at closely spaced points intermediate their ends to said walls extending from end to end of the member and positioned thereon to avoid interference with said collapsing, the end portions ofsaid cleats being positioned to be secured by nails or the like to said marginal portions, said cleats having sufficient strength and rigidity to constitute a major sustaining means between the two end closure members.

7. A crate assembly comprising, in combination, three members completely preformed for subsequent assembly comprising two rigid end closure members having rigid marginal portions,

and a collapsible. tubular member of stifi sheet material forming side walls and foldable at the wall junctures for collapsing and having sustaining cleats on its walls, positioned to avoid interference with said collapsing, extending from end to end of the member united thereto for reinforcement thereof/the end portions of the cleats being located for rigid connection to said. marginal portions, said cleats having sufficient strength and rigidity to constitute a major sustaining means between the two end members.

8. A crate assembly comprising, in combination, three members completely preformed for subsequent assembly comprising two rigid end closure members having rigid marginal portions, and a collapsible tubular member of stiff sheet material forming side walls and foldable at the wall 'junctures for collapsing and having sustaining cleats on its outside walls extending from end to end of the member united thereto for reinforcement thereof, the end portions of the cleats being located for rigid connection to said marginal portions, said cleats having sufficient strength and rigidity to constitute a major sustaining means between the two end members.

, 9. A crate assembly comprising two preformed rigid end closure members and a preformed collapsible tubular member, the latter comprising side walls formed of stiif fibrous sheet material connected and conditioned at the corners for collapsing, rigid cleats, positioned to avoid interference with said collapsing, secured thereto at closely spaced points intermediate their ends extending from end to end of the member with some of the cleats protruding beyond the ends oi the member, the end closure members having rigid marginal portions suitable for receiving nails or the like for rigidly securing said marginal portions to the said wall cleats, said cleats having sufficient strengthand rigidity to constitute a major sustaining means between the two end closure members.

10. A crate assembly comprising, in combination, three preformed and complete component parts comprising two rigid end closure members having rigid marginal portions suitable for receiving nails or the like, and a collapsible tubular member or stiff fibrous sheet material forming side walls foldable at their junctures for collapsing, the last said member having sustaining cleats on its walls, positioned to avoid interference with said collapsing, extending from end to end of the member united thereto at closely spaced points for substantially continuous longitudinal reinforcement thereof and positioned to be secured by nails or the like to said marginal portions, said cleats having suflicient strength and rigidity to constitute a major sustaining means between the two end closure members.

11. A crateassembly comprising, in combination, three preformed and complete component parts comprising two rigid end closuremembers having rigid marginal portions suitable for receiving nails or the like, and a collapsible tubular member of stiff fibrous sheet material forming side walls foldable .at their junctures for collapsing, the last said member having sustaining cleats on its walls, positioned to avoid interference with said collapsing, extending from end to end of the member united thereto for reinforcement thereof, the cleats on two opposite side walls being positioned to be secured to said marginal portions by nails or the like extending in the plane of the end closure members, the cleats on the other two opposite side walls being positioned relatively to their adjoining said marginal portions to be secured thereto by nails or the like extending perpendicular to the planes of the end closure members.

JAMES R. WATKINS. 

